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Re: Sideline uncapper.

I have an older Maxant flail decapper that I love. I didn't even know I needed one until it came bundled in a small bulk honey house equipment buy we did last year. We decapped and spun 20+ supers in one day last year. Couldn't have done that with a knife.

Re: Sideline uncapper.

Uncapping equipment can be one of the biggest investments you make in your beekeeping operation. Before you buy anything you'll want to determine how large of a business you eventually want to run. Having a more automated uncapper will only help speed up the harvest if you also have the right extractor. Three uncapping machines for sideline beekeepers are currently on the market. First is the sideliner uncapper from Brushy Mountain. I have seen the youtube video and it looks like a decent machine. It will leave more of the wax on the frame. Second is the Handy man Uncapper from Dadant. It is recommended to circulate hot water or steam through the knives. I have not personally used one of these. Third is the Maxant chain uncapper. I have a friend that uses one of these. He is able to keep two 20 frame extractors running constantly. Some beekeepers can get lucky and find used uncapping machines for a good price, but it is rare.

Re: Sideline uncapper.

I was lucky ......I didn't even know what it was when it was unloaded off the truck. Had bought the lot primarily for the extractor. Did a search on the Internet, fired it up and realized what I had been missing in my beekeeping life. I went from a 4 -shallow frame homemade extractor that you had to stop and flip the frames, knife and 5 gal buckets to a 33 shallow frame extractor, chain decapper, three storage tanks, wax melter, honey heater, decapping tank and a bunch of other odds and ends. It was like stepping off a horse buggy and onto the starship enterprise : ).

Re: Sideline uncapper.

Originally Posted by kbfarms

We decapped and spun 20+ supers in one day last year. Couldn't have done that with a knife.

REALLY??? I use a Pierce knife, and I do everything myself, uncap, load the radial extractor, unload extractor, stack empty supers, and filter the honey. I average 7 supers per hour. I can easily do 20 supers before lunch.

Re: Sideline uncapper.

Running 8 frame supers that averages a little less than a frame a minute besides the loading, unloading, filtering, stacking, breaking the full frames out of the supers.

You must have 8 hands..... all I can say is wow. I manage less than 1/2 that by hand, but I use a serrated knife which does slow you down. Also dont have a good enough uncapping tank to hold the 20 frames I need to uncap while my 20 frame extractor is spinning out.

Re: Sideline uncapper.

kbfarms...jbeshearse... No, I am not a better beekeeper than you are, and no, I don't have 8 hands. I was just telling it like it is.

Here is how I do it. Frames are already broken out, as I do that at the bee yard. I only bring to the honeyhouse the fully capped frames, and virtually, no bees. I have a Kelly 9 frame, electric, radial extractor. I run all 8 frame, in 10 frame shallow supers. The combs are well drawn out, and there is rarely any picking of the comb. I uncap 6 frames, hang in the extractor and start it spinning. Takes maybe 20 seconds per frame to uncap. All you do is go up one side, spin the frame on the nail, and go down the other side. The hot knife does it all. I then uncap frames and hang each frame in the uncapping tank until I have 6 frames uncapped, Then unload the 6 frames that had been spinning and load the six that are in the extractor. About each 2 supers I pour the honey from the extractor into the filter system. It collects as the extractor is running. The honey then runs into 5 gallon buckets. As each 5 gallon bucket is filled, I put a lid on it, put a new bucket under filter tank.

I doesn't take long to extract honey, if you have 8 frames in 10 frame equipment and a good hot knife, (I use a Pierce or a Kelly knife with variable temperature control.) The 9 frame radial, when only putting 6 frames in it, will have the 6 frames extracted by the time you uncap six more frames.

Re: Sideline uncapper.

jbeshearse...I read your response above and you stated your uncapping tank would not hold the 20 frames you uncap while you are spinning 20.
Have you ever tried spinning just the number that your uncapping tank will hold. For instance, my uncapping tank will only hold 6 frames, and I found that uncapping 6 frames and spinning 6 frames is much, much, faster, than spinning 9 frames and uncapping 9 frames. It takes my 9 frame radial much longer to spin dry 9 frames than it does 6 frames. Just make sure the frames are balanced in the extractor.

Re: Sideline uncapper.

The video looks good, but I wonder how it works for really thick comb (like when you have 9 or 8 frames in a ten frame box) or really skinny comb that got capped before it was fully drawn. Those are always the trickier ones...